Lies, Guys and Alibis

By Carol Norton

It's murder! The cute, new guy in town is found at the bottom of the community swimming pool. Angela's alibi is weak and someone is threatening the kids who were at that pool party.

Izzy and her best friend, Deanie, must help Angela prove that she did not kill the cute new guy. Angela's boyfriend Ross was so mad about the new guy's flirting with Angela that there was a fist fight. Did Ross kill the new guy? Or maybe it was the mysterious girl who watched the party from the other side of the fence?

And what about Deanie's new crush? What's his story? Should Izzy trust her best friend to this guy with a shady past?

Lies, Guys, and Alibis has it all. Murder, lies, deceit and redemption. Carol Norton has returned with another hit teen mystery in her Locksmith series!

• Language: English
• Publisher: odianneh5680att.net
• Release date: Nov 5, 2012
• ISBN: 9781301887484

Carol Norton

When Carol Norton was seven years old, she wrote a story about her doll, Precious. She hid the paper inside a book and read it to her mother, pretending it was a published story. Her mother was completely fooled, of course, and said the story was the best one she had ever heard—and wasn’t it amazing that the book had a doll named Precious, just like Carol did! Thus encouraged, Carol decided to become a writer.She was published briefly in high school and college publications, then put writing aside for the next twenty-five years to teach English in the public schools of four states, and then to teach gifted English with an emphasis on writing in Alabama, where she lives now. During this time she gravitated toward young teens as her subject matter because of their humor, their heart, and their habit of constantly getting into and out of impossible situations.After retiring from the classroom, she completed three novels before she settled down to writing mysteries for teens with The Locksmith Series. Today, she spends her writing time in the mythical town of Springville, creating dangerous crimes for her two main characters, Izzy and Deanie, to solve.

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Lies, Guys and Alibis

By

Carol Norton

Published by OnStage Publishing

Copyright 2012

Smashwords edition

Smashwords edition, License Notes

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CHAPTER 1

Angela shook me. Hit the deck, Izzy, we’re going grocery shopping.

I squinted at my clock: 8:30! This is the first day of summer vacation! I tunneled under my pillow.

C’mon. Get up! She dragged my arm until I thumped on the floor in a tangle of sheets. Then she yanked them off me and threw them on the bed. We’ve got to get going. It’s important. If you come now, I promise to put all the groceries away and clean the bathrooms, too.

What?

Saturday morning, Mom and Dad were sleeping in but my older sister was awake, ready to go grocery shopping, and offering to scrub toilets! Something was up. Either that, or aliens had taken Angela and left a clone.

I jumped into my clothes before she had left the room, moving so fast I didn’t notice my new bathing suit until I was in front of the bathroom mirror, pulling my hair into a ponytail. The suit hung limply over the shower rod, not in the drawer where I had put it. I wrapped my fingers around it and squeezed. Immediately, water ran down my arm and dripped on the edge of the tub.

Damn, I hadn’t even worn it myself.

Hey, who said you could wear my new swim suit? I asked, following Angela downstairs to the kitchen.

I asked you yesterday. She dug the last banana from the fruit bowl for herself and tossed me a mushy apple. Don’t you remember?

No, I don’t as a matter of fact. What did I say?

Angela tilted her head to one side. Well, actually, I’m not sure you heard me. But I knew it would be all right.

Seriously! I’m sure every girl wants her older sister to show off her new bathing suit to the boys so they can see just how it could be filled out. I glanced down at my chest and grimaced. If Angela had spent her money on new summer clothes instead of a super-expensive prom dress last spring, she would have had a new bathing suit of her own, and she wouldn’t be borrowing my new clothes all the time.

My reflection in the microwave door stared back at me. I looked shapeless and tired, like an unmade bed. Angela, of course, looked beautiful. At any time of day or night, she always looked as if she had just spent the last hour doing her hair and makeup, which she usually had.

I tossed the apple into the trash. Who’re you all fixed up for?

She hustled me out the front door. Well, I thought we could stop by the pool on our way. I need to see Ross.

I got out of bed early for this?

Ross MacDonald had been Angela’s boyfriend for the last three months, which is a record for her. He adored her and hung around her all the time, but he had the personality of a potato and probably less intelligence. Frankly, I couldn’t understand how Angela thought seeing him at 8:30 in the morning was worth cleaning bathrooms, but then Angela had always been a mystery to me.

For Pete’s sake, I said, climbing into the van, you just saw Ross last night.

I waited for a response. Nothing. I tried something different. "You did get home pretty early. You two have a fight?"

She ignored me, too busy backing the van down the driveway. Having been sixteen only a few months, Angela was still pretty new to driving. Reverse took all her concentration.

I waited until we were on the street to try again. This must be true love for sure, I said. "Since when is Ross worth getting up early on the first day of summer vacation? Plus cleaning all the bathrooms?"

She pursed her lips and gripped the steering wheel tighter.

A few minutes later we pulled up the hill into the Springville pool parking lot. It was empty except for Ross’s pickup in front of the gate. A low hedge partially blocked my view of the pool area, but I didn’t see Ross anywhere.

Angela, I said. The pool doesn’t even open until 9:00, and we’re ten minutes early. Aren’t you afraid of looking a tad eager to see the boy?

Wait in the van, she snapped and hurried to the chain link fence. The gate was padlocked.

Ross? she called and shook the gate. The empty pool enclosure echoed with clanking.

Ross? she called again.

She walked around the perimeter of the fence, pausing every few feet to peer through it. I couldn’t see anything unusual except a couple of beer cans on the diving board. Someone was going to get in trouble for that.

Angela didn’t even look at the cans. Near the far end of the fence, she stooped down and poked her fingers through the chain links, reaching toward something inside. She came up empty.

Ross! She clutched the fence with both hands and shook it. Finally, she marched back to the van, climbed in, and slammed the door.

What were you looking for? I asked.

Nothing. She narrowed her eyes and turned to me. Can you open that lock?

This was getting weirder by the minute. Sure, I could, I said, but I’m not going to. It’s against locksmith ethics. Besides, I would probably get caught, and you haven’t even told me what’s going on.

She tapped her nails against the steering wheel. I kept quiet. In my fifteen years’ experience with Angela, I have learned that sometimes it’s best just to wait and see.

Jesse Haygood, director of pool operations, arrived at 9:00. Angela perked up. Jesse had been head life guard and the primary target of her summer flirting efforts for the past three summers. Not only was he super good-looking, he also was going to be a senior at Duke next fall. She checked the mirror and fluffed her hair before she hopped out of the van. I wondered if Ross’s days were numbered.

Hi, Angela, what brings you here so early? He grinned like he thought he was the reason.

Ha.

Hey, Jesse. It’s so great to see you again. She looked up at him through her lashes. Uh...I just needed to see Ross for a minute. He has something of mine.

She pointed in the direction of the parking lot. His truck is here. Wasn’t he supposed to open the pool this morning?

Jesse tugged on the padlock and frowned. Yeah. I was here late last night, setting up for today. Ross was supposed to open. He unlocked the gate. Maybe he’s in the building. I’ll send him out.

Angela smiled at him. You’re so sweet. I’ll wait right here.

She watched him until he entered the building. Then, she took off into the enclosure, heading toward far end of the pool. At the fence, she snatched an object off the ground and hugged it to her chest. Her purse! She closed her eyes and exhaled as if she had been holding her breath all morning.

Quickly, she checked the entrance to the office and started back to the van. Whatever her big deal had been, it seemed to be over with. Or at least I thought so until she glanced in the pool and stopped so fast, she almost fell over.

She fixed her eyes on the water, and she didn’t move.

I leaned out the van window. Angela, what is it?

She faltered toward the edge of the pool and knelt down, peering into the deep water. Then she screamed. Loud, piercing, shrill screams that didn’t stop.

I jumped out of the van and ran through the gate. Jesse raced from the office. He grabbed Angela as she stumbled backward. She buried her head on his shoulder, sobbing, and pointed into the pool.

The water was beginning-of-the-season clean and mirror-still. Every line, number, and drain cover stood out sharply against the light blue paint. But sharpest of all in the deepest part, was a very pale, very motionless body.

It’s Ross, Angela cried. He’s dead!

No. Not Ross!

I felt like someone had knocked the air out of my lungs. All the uncharitable thoughts I had had about him flooded me with guilt. Suddenly I wanted to see that goofy face he always got when he saw Angela, and I wanted to hear one of his lame jokes again so I could laugh at it, but most of all, I wanted him to be pretending, getting ready to shoot above the surface and laugh at us for being so silly.

Eyes filled with tears, I peered into the water. A body rested on the bottom, face down, its arms and legs stretched outward like an aquatic skydiver.

I wiped my eyes and looked again. Then I checked Angela and Jesse to see if they had noticed.

No.

Damn! He’s naked! I said. It just sort of popped out.

What? Angela stopped crying on Jesse’s shoulder.

He doesn’t have a suit on, I said.

She stared into the pool and shook her head. Nooooo, she wailed and went into hysterics a second time. It gave me the shivers.

I took another look.

Jesse led Angela over to the fence and sat her down. He paced back and forth as he talked to the police and glanced